Rwanda opposition figure Victoire Ingabire to appear before African court
Rwanda’s opposition figure Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza is to appear before the Arusha-based African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights next week. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Rwanda’s opposition figure Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza is to appear before the Arusha-based African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights next week.
The court’s senior information and communication officer Sukdhev Chhatbar told the Nation on Friday the hearing of Mrs Victoire’s case is set for Thursday.
Mrs Umuhoza is the chair of UDF-INKINGI political party and is detained in Kigali Central Prison.
She has been in prison since 2010 when she declared interest for the Rwanda presidential elections but was barred from vying.
She was accused of having committed a number of serious crimes, including spreading genocide ideology, aiding and abetting terrorism, sectarianism and divisionism and undermining the internal security of a state.
Mrs Umuhoza was also cited for spreading rumours which may incite the population against political authorities and mount the citizens against one another.
INDICTED
Authorities also indicted her of establishing an armed branch of a rebel movement, attempted recourse to terrorism, armed force and any form of violence to destabilise established authority and violate constitutional principles.
She was then condemned to 15-year imprisonment by the Supreme Court of Rwanda.
Before the African Court, Mrs Umuhoza alleges violations of three human rights instruments, namely the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
The applicant asks the Court to order Rwanda to repeal with retroactive effect the two laws grounding her conviction, review the case, annul all the decisions that had been taken since the preliminary investigation up till the pronouncement of the last judgment, release her on parole, and pay costs and reparations.
